Pupo Plans To Resign This Week String Of Controversies, Divided Council Take Toll

COPYRIGHT 1999 , THE SPOKESMAN-REVIEW

City Manager Bill Pupo, embattled and second-guessed for months, said Saturday that he plants to submit his resignation in a week.

Pupo has been criticized recently for a series of setbacks at City Hall, including the resignation of Police Chief Alan Chertok, a payout to fired engineering director Phil Williams and an expensive Lincoln Street bridge that might never be built.

He also has faced a continuing push to overhaul Spokane’s form of government and an increasingly contentious City Council lacking direction and leadership.

“Basically, I’m going to move on. I think it is my best interest to do that,” Pupo said. “I am working out the details of it. There are no particular reasons. It’s just time.”

Pupo, 45, has been a city employee for half his life. He was hired in 1977 to study the feasibility of using a cable television channel to broadcast council meetings. In 1982, after graduating from Gonzaga University with a master’s degree in business administration, he was promoted to assistant city manager.

Pupo was named acting city manager after the resignation of City Manager Roger Crum three years ago. Six months later, the council appointed him city manager.

The council will likely name Deputy City Manager Pete Fortin as acting city manager to replace Pupo.

It could be difficult for the city to recruit a new city manager with the strong-mayor initiative proposed for the November ballot. If approved, the strong-mayor form of government would replace the city manager system in January 2001.

Pupo’s strength has been streamlining city government and upgrading services.

“We are doing more today than ever before in history toward improving the water, sewers and streets throughout the whole city,” he said.

But his tenure has been marked by controversial and expensive real estate and personnel decisions. Many of those issues began long before his watch and most of the decisions were approved by the City Council.

In 1997, the city spent almost $5 million to buy property from Steve and Leslie Ronald and Salty’s restaurant to preserve views of the Spokane Falls and to move forward with the Lincoln Street bridge project.

Nearly $8 million has been spent planning the proposed bridge, but the state says the city hasn’t proved it’s needed.

Pupo was applauded for involving the public in the hiring of the police chief last year. But after only nine months on the job, Chertok resigned in May and collected a $65,000 buyout amid pressure from officers who said he was an ineffective leader.

Pupo made a swift decision to fire city engineering director Phil Williams after learning of Williams’ romantic relationship with a consultant completing an environmental study for the city. But Williams sued, saying a mandatory hearing was skipped in the firing process. The city settled last month with Williams for $135,000, health benefits and lawyer fees.

Last week, the city agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by homeowners near the Colbert compost facility. The neighbors say the plant smells and is ruining their property values and quality of life. The city is offering to buy out affected homeowners.

Pupo inherited other problems, including potholed streets that had been neglected for years and a century-old sewer and water system in desperate need of modernization.

New controversies are brewing, including the proposed convention center expansion, Riverfront Park expansion and consolidation of operations and fleet maintenance to the Garry Park neighborhood.

“The council hasn’t taken a step toward expressing a vision on any of these,” Pupo said. “In the meantime, I have roofs ready to fall in on people.”

Councilman Orville Barnes said Pupo has been doing a good job. “The way things have been heading in the last six months are the right direction.”

But, Barnes said, “Bill has not had an easy task. Those who wanted to see him gone were vocal. Those who thought he was doing OK were silent. His supporters just sat on the sidelines.”

The City Council recently completed an in-depth evaluation of Pupo, surveying city staff, organizations, businesses and neighborhoods.

The results of the evaluation have been kept private, but those who have seen it, including Pupo, say it was “average.”

“It wasn’t the best in the world, not the worst in the world,” said Councilwoman Cherie Rodgers, one of Pupo’s strongest critics.

Rodgers said she was “not surprised” to hear about Pupo’s pending resignation. “I felt this was coming in light of all that was happening…. I think Bill is a nice guy, but he is in over his head.”

Pupo is involved in a range of community activities, including reading to youngsters in the West Central neighborhood, volunteering as a court marshal during Hoopfest and coaching softball and soccer for Spokane Youth Sports.

But Pupo has been unable to bridge the polarized City Council, where 5-2 votes have become routine and public bickering commonplace.

During last Monday’s council briefing session, council members argued about Pupo’s evaluation and whether all council members knew handwritten documents used in the evaluation would be shredded. They also debated over who gave Pupo the lowest and highest ratings. Pupo looked embarrassed.

Mayor John Talbott, who runs the meeting, made no effort to stop the discussion.

As it ended, Councilwomen Phyllis Holmes and Roberta Greene turned to each other and shook their heads. “This is bizarre,” Greene said.

Department heads attending the meeting listened wide-eyed, some shifting uncomfortably in their seats. Most left the briefing shaking their heads, too.

“Ever since John was elected and Cherie was elected, there have been very contentious decisions made,” Councilman Jeff Colliton said Saturday.

“All of these situations didn’t help Bill any,” Colliton said. “When you add to that two council members saying on every occasion that they want Bill out of there, it has made it very uncomfortable for him.”

Talbott, who has had an icy relationship with the city manager since even before he was elected, wouldn’t comment on Pupo’s plan to resign.

Talbott said Saturday he didn’t know Pupo was planning to resign, but said he had heard rumors that it was possible.

“I told Bill when I first became mayor that I would support him any way I can,” Talbott said. “I feel that I have given him as much support as I can, given the condition of the city - the compost facility, police chief, and the way business is conducted in general.”

Colliton said talking about the resignation is difficult because of his personal respect for Pupo, his wife, Kathy, and their family.

“He has committed all of his adult life to our city and community and has done a lot of good. It should be difficult for all of us to see his career with the city end,” Colliton said.

Pupo said he’s confident about his decision to move on.

“I’m going to do what’s right for Kathy, the girls and me,” he said.

This sidebar appeared with the story: Five leaders Spokane changed to a city manager form of government nearly 40 years ago. Since then, only five people have held the post. They are: Henry Nabers, who became Spokane’s first city manager in July 1960. He resigned in June 1963. F. Sylvin Fulwiler; August 1963 to July 1977. Terry Novak; May 1978 to June 1991. Roger Crum; September 1991 to May 1996. Bill Pupo; February 1997 to date.